By Tyler Rothwell
A drug task force arrested six people in Rockbridge County in February, alleging they were part of an effort to traffic around 100 pounds of illegal narcotics to the Rockbridge area.
The bust was the work of the James River Regional Drug Task Force, a three-county partnership that cracks down on large scale operations, rather than smaller users. It has been a state task force since around 2013. Organizers say it’s had an impact in the Rockbridge area, particularly in stemming the flow of methamphetamine, fentanyl and cocaine.
“It’s going to make a very powerful impact for us to continue investigating narcotics the way we’ve started here recently,” Buena Vista’s Interim Police Chief Dave Clements said.
The Virginia State Police have regional drug task forces across the state, including this one – which covers Rockbridge, Bedford and Botetourt counties.
“It’s a drug task force to interrupt the flow and distribution of illegal narcotics,” said Virginia State Police Sgt. Rick Garletts, a department spokesman.
The task force, which is overseen by state police, also covers Bedford, Buena Vista and Lexington. It’s made up of 14 people from those jurisdictions, said Tommy Morris, a special agent with the Virginia State Police who coordinates the task force.
Six people were arrested in February drug bust
In the latest case, people were arrested in connection to the alleged drug trafficking ring, five of them from the Rockbridge area and one from Lynchburg, police said. Morris said all 14 individuals on the task force contributed to the investigation.
“That was a major impact on the community as far as getting those people off the street and getting those drugs confiscated and stopping that flow coming in from those people,” Morris said.
The individuals are currently charged with numerous counts of possession and intent to distribute methamphetamine.
According to deputies, those arrested allegedly trafficked over 100 pounds of illegal narcotics in the past several months for redistribution in the Rockbridge area.
“Most of what the [task force] is dealing with is methamphetamine… for the most part, it’s all originating out of Roanoke,” Clements said.
In a separate bust in May 2025, the drug task forced seized $247,000 worth of suspected fentanyl, methamphetamine and marijuana, Garletts said.
Drugs trafficking is a growing problem in Rockbridge area, authorities said
The Shenandoah Valley and James River region are hubs for the distribution of illegal narcotics, Morris said. Distributers will use side and back roads to transport drugs up to the Rockbridge area.
The drugs often come in from Texas and Mexico and flow to cities like Lynchburg and Roanoke before getting redistributed to more rural areas, authorities said.
“Roanoke pretty much seems to be the hub right now,” Garletts said.
Informants play a major role in helping police identify larger distributers and manufacturers, Garletts said.
“Those are folks that we catch with smaller amounts that help develop the bigger players in the game,” he said.
One area prosecutor said the distribution of narcotics is becoming a growing problem in the Rockbridge area.
Josh Elrod, the commonwealth’s attorney for Buena Vista, said his office deals with larger distribution cases more strictly than it does smaller possession cases.
“We’ve become sometimes aware of people bringing larger amounts of drugs into the community or distributing them in the community,” Elrod said. “We tend to deal with those much more strictly from a criminal justice standpoint and prosecute those cases.”
Over 70% of inmates incarcerated at Rockbridge Regional Jail are there for drug charges, according to jail records.
Prosecutors regularly meet with the task force and local law enforcement to talk about individual cases and overall strategies, Elrod said.
Right now, the biggest challenge for the task force is tracking down bigger operations, Morris said.
“We might deal with a lot of street dealers or your low-end people,” he said. “But then we try to work our way up the chains.”
The investigation is ongoing after the latest raid. All six suspects arrested face charges of intent and conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine.
Messages left for Rockbridge County Sherriff Tony McFaddin by the Rockbridge Report were not returned.
In the latest bust, the following six people were arrested on numerous charges including possession with intent and/or conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine:
Sheena Lewis of Buena Vista, Charlie Byers of Buena Vista, Lee Davis Jr. of Lynchburg, Kiana Whitesell of Rockbridge County, Maxwell Richerson of Buena Vista, and Amanda Riddle of Rockbridge County are among those arrested and facing charges.
An attorney for Davis declined comment. Messages left for attorneys representing the other five suspects were not returned Thursday.
Lewis and Byers are scheduled to appear in the Buena Vista Circuit Court on Monday in front of a grand jury.
Anyone with information regarding this case is encouraged to call the Rockbridge County Crime Line at (540) 463-BUST.